Lunar New Year 2026: Celebrations around the world
Millions of people around the world are celebrating the start of the Lunar New Year, with festivities taking place from Hong Kong to Buenos Aires.
Hillary Clinton accuses Trump administration of Epstein files ‘cover-up’ in BBC interview
"Get the files out. They are slow-walking it," the former US secretary of state says. The White House says it has done "more for the victims than Democrats ever did".
Kremlin aide warns West over seizure of Russian vessels – Reuters
- Kremlin aide warns West over seizure of Russian vessels Reuters
- Russia threatens to deploy navy to protect vessels from ‘western piracy’ The Guardian
- UK and European Allies Weigh Seizing Russian Shadow Fleet Ships Bloomberg.com
- Russia's 'shadow fleet' of tankers reported in Danish waters almost daily in 2025, Denmark says Euronews.com
- Bipartisan CODEL McCain Calls for Increased Interdiction of Russia’s Shadow Fleet U.S. Senate (.gov)
Australia won’t repatriate 34 women and children from Syria – NPR
- Australia won't repatriate 34 women and children from Syria NPR
- Australian IS families in Syria camp turned back after leaving for home BBC
- Australia refuses to repatriate ISIS-linked citizens in Syria as escape attempt fails CNN
- Australia rules out helping families of Islamic State militants leave Syrian camp NBC News
- Who are the 'ISIS brides' in Syria who want to return to Australia? Australian Broadcasting Corporation
South Korea says Kim Jong Un’s daughter has entered a ‘successor’ stage. The reality is murkier – The Observer
- South Korea says Kim Jong Un’s daughter has entered a ‘successor’ stage. The reality is murkier The Observer
- Kim Ju Ae: North Korea leader Kim Jong Un chooses daughter as heir, Seoul says BBC
- Fact Check Team: A daughter as an heir? Exploring Kim Jong Un's potential successor WLOS
- North Korea's Kim positioning daughter as successor, Seoul spy agency briefing says Reuters
- Kim close to naming teenage daughter as future North Korean leader, South believes The Guardian
Ukraine: In Kyiv, exhausted repair crews work non-stop – dw.com
- Ukraine: In Kyiv, exhausted repair crews work non-stop dw.com
- Ukrainians face brutal cold without heat after Russian attacks on energy grid PBS
- Russia pummels Ukraine's power grid before talks Reuters
- On the Ground With Crews Battling to Keep the Lights On in Ukraine The Wall Street Journal
- Video appears to show Patriot intercepting Zircon hypersonic missile AeroTime
Europe Is America’s Secret Weapon. And We’re Giving It Up. – The Bulwark
- Europe Is America’s Secret Weapon. And We’re Giving It Up. The Bulwark
- Trump's new world order has become real and Europe is having to adjust fast BBC
- Europe’s path to security without the US Financial Times
- Europe Concedes a Point to Trump: It Needs to Stand on Its Own The New York Times
- Top general: EU defence clause should be an option prior to NATO's Euronews.com
Liam Alexander Hall named as man accused of attempted Invasion Day bombing in Perth
Liam Alexander Hall is the first person to be charged with terrorism offences in Western Australia
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A Perth magistrate has lifted a suppression order on the identity of Liam Alexander Hall, a 32-year-old man accused of attempting to bomb an Invasion Day rally in Perth.
Magistrate Lynette Dias told the court on Tuesday that openness of the court is fundamental in the administration of justice.
Continue reading...Police ‘determined’ to target abusers who drive women to suicide but say they lack of resources
NPCC lead for domestic abuse says officers dealing with huge caseloads, made worse by justice system backlogs
Police are “determined to do more” to hold to account domestic abusers who drive victims to kill themselves, the National Police Chiefs’ Council has said.
Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe, the NPCC lead for domestic abuse, has said that “more posthumous investigations are taking place”, but that officers struggle with a lack of resources, adding that 20% of all crime relates to domestic abuse in most forces.
Continue reading...Madrid museum shuffles its pack charting decades of rapid change in Spain
Reina Sofía’s three-year rehang of works by artists from Spain and beyond is billed as a ‘critical reinterpretation’
The Reina Sofía’s new rehang opens, quite pointedly, with a painting of a detained man sitting, head bowed and wrists shackled, as he waits for the arbitrary hand of institutional bureaucracy to decide his fate.
The picture, Document No …, was painted by Juan Genovés in 1975, the year Francisco Franco died and Spain began its transition to democracy after four decades of dictatorship. Genovés’s faceless, everyman victim of the Franco regime’s control and repression is the natural starting point for the Madrid museum’s exploration of the past 50 years of contemporary art in Spain.
Continue reading...Annular solar eclipse turns the sun into a dramatic ‘ring of fire’ today! Here’s what you need to know – Space
- Annular solar eclipse turns the sun into a dramatic 'ring of fire' today! Here's what you need to know Space
- What time is the annular solar eclipse on Feb. 17? Space
- ‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipse: February 2026 path, visibility over Antarctica and partial eclipse for South Africa CNN
- This Rare New Moon Will Bring Major Change—Here’s What It Means For You Personally Vogue
- Your horoscope for the week ahead: Magnificent changes are on the way as the first eclipse of 2026 arrives CBC
Tony Burke ‘taking advice’ from security agencies about Australian women and children in Syria seeking to return
Temporary Exclusion Orders allow the home affairs minister to stop a person entering for up to two years, but there is a high bar for the powers
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Home affairs minister Tony Burke is “taking advice” from security agencies on whether Australian women and children in a Syrian detention camp should be temporarily banned from returning, but it is unclear how many in the cohort such an order would apply to.
On Monday night, 34 Australian women and children – the wives, widows and children of dead or jailed Islamic State fighters – left from the al-Roj camp, in north-eastern Syria, after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia.
Continue reading...Trump ups pressure on Kyiv as Russia, Ukraine hold peace talks in Geneva
Kremlin says the talks are likely to focus on the issue of Ukrainian territory that Russian wants Kyiv to cede.
Chinese tourists shun Japan over lunar new year holiday as rift deepens
Japanese prime minister’s refusal to back down over Taiwan comments brings more criticism and travel warnings from China
Chinese tourists are continuing to shun Japan in large numbers, with the country falling out of the top 10 destinations for those celebrating the lunar new year with a trip abroad.
Japan has had a dramatic drop in the number of Chinese visitors since the end of last year as a diplomatic row between Tokyo and Beijing over the security of Taiwan continues.
Continue reading...Taunts, harassment and assaults: landmark report finds racism at Australian universities is ‘systemic’
Survey by Australian Human Rights Commission found universities failed to meet duty of care, while complaints processes were ‘Kafkaesque’
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Racism is “systemic” at Australia’s universities, according to a landmark report found students have mocked their Palestinian peers with shouts of “terrorism”, some students have been followed by campus security and First Nations students have been compared to “petrol sniffers” in lecture halls.
The report also found Jewish students were fearful to attend classes, with one harassed for wearing their kippa walking to class and another who described people screaming “send them to the camps” at a group of Jews on campus.
Continue reading...Waste piles up in Cuba as US-imposed fuel blockade halts collection trucks
Cubans suffer under a fuel blockade as US President Donald Trump calls the Caribbean country a 'failed nation'.
US-Iran talks live: Second round to begin in Geneva
The second round of negotiations to be held with mediation by Oman's Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi.
Monopoly Round-Up: Why the “AI God” Narrative is Actually a Corporate Power Grab – BIG substack.
- Monopoly Round-Up: Why the "AI God" Narrative is Actually a Corporate Power Grab BIG substack.
- The Doomsday Scenario for AI and Jobs Derek Thompson | Substack
- Those who most need to understand AI don't get it The Jakarta Post
- The right isn’t ready for the impact of AI The Spectator
- Opinion | A.I. May Put Progressives to the Test The New York Times
Bacteria Frozen For 5,000 Years Could Fight Superbugs, But There’s a Catch – ScienceAlert
- Bacteria Frozen For 5,000 Years Could Fight Superbugs, But There's a Catch ScienceAlert
- Bacteria frozen in ancient underground ice cave found to be resistant against 10 modern antibiotics Frontiers
- 5,000-year-old bacteria thawed in Romanian ice cave Popular Science
- Researchers find antibiotic-resistant bacteria from 5,000 years ago Euronews.com
- Ancient bacteria from 5,000-year-old ice reveals clues to fighting superbugs The Conversation